Rev. Eleanor R. Fisher Psy.D M.Sc.
A series of Spiritually insightful essays from the Boston U.S.A. based Psychotherapist and Spiritualist Minister Eleanor Fisher Psy.D. Eleanor is a Minister, member and speaker of the Swampcoate Spiritualist Church. Her work is designed to bring out the hidden best in all who read these inspirational texts. I am sure you will discover this for yourelf as you visit the numerous pages dedicated to her within this site.
Rev. Eleanor R. Fisher Psy.D M.Sc.
FEATURES
The Natural Law Of Love.
VISIONS OF FAITH AND HOPE
Moral
Imagination
Conversations With God.
Courage.
What Is In My Best
Interest?
A Challenge To The
Modern Spiritualist.
How Choices Are
Made.
Instead Of Saying
No.
Emotional
Communication.
INSTEAD OF
SAYING NO
Once upon a time there was a little girl who knew that she was different from
other children. To almost everything she wanted to try, her parents encouraged
her, by saying, "Yes, you can". However, when she went to school she
was told that she was too young to listen to the voice of her curious mind and
that she "must not." The little girl felt very confused between her
inner voice of confidence and the outer messages from society. She was not a
Spiritualist, however she felt guided and protected. One night she had a dream
where she saw a glorious light that defied description. She saw herself as a
baby enfolded by this wondrous light and she felt hope and encouragement.
Surrounding her were countless people, standing shoulder to shoulder with a
common, lofty purpose lighting every face. All seemed to be saying the same
thing as her parents, "You can do it." She awoke from her dream,
knowing that she had experienced perfect love and acceptance and that her life
would be about living that dream to the best of her ability.
In an effort to understand the discrepancies between herself and others, she began to ask the question, "Why." When she was told that she was too young to understand, she innocently asked, "Why are you afraid to tell me?" Usually people criticized her for her audacity. Her family, knowing of her difficulties, asked her if she wanted people to approve of her. Her tearful response was, "I just want to be me." They thought it might be easier to be just like everyone else.As she grew older, she became properly socialized, learning to ask questions that would garner approving responses. However, there was a price to pay. Gradually, her childhood confidence, spontaneity, curiosity and
creativity disappeared. She stopped saying, "Yes." Nevertheless, she remembered her dream.The cycle continued. The years went by and she felt herself split in two. Outwardly, she was acceptable. Inwardly, she developed a secret self where she continued to communicate with the people in the dream.
She no longer asked, "why,". She no longer followed her dreams. She looked for approval while becoming fearful of being seen as different. She was very intelligent and learned how to get along. When she reviewed her life,
she realized that she was miserable. It became clear to her that all of her choices were her own. Finally, while at the brink of suicide, she remembered that in her childhood dream everything was possible. She began to say,
"Yes" instead of, "No." and asked "Why," instead of stifling her curiosity and creativity.What would your life be like if you said, "Yes!" to a thought or experience, instead of automatically saying, "No!"? Do you feel that your fantasies, visions and dreams are unattainable? If you indulge in the luxury of rationalization, it can become automatic and you then give up control of your life. Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." He felt that his true enemies were those who oppose the life of reason and virtue. Socrates taught his student, Plato, that the good is also the true. Although they were not Spiritualists, they understood Natural Law. Socrates willingly gave up his life for his beliefs. Socrates and Plato faced the same issues that the little girl struggled with. The Natural Law of Truth guides us in knowing right from wrong. As you strive to know and live the truth, saying, "yes, I can," your life will change for the better. It is at the moment of Doing, that the brain receives a new message and moves into Action.
E-mail ELEANOR FISHER: Eleanor@jacemngt.demon.co.uk
FROM FEAR TO CREATIVITY
By
Eleanor R. Fisher M.Sc
The phrase Emotional Communication has been an integral part of my vocabulary and philosophy of life for more than twenty years. Before I learned the term, I lived it without comprehending what it would mean to have a broadened understanding of the nature of communicating emotionally. Every person has at least five different intelligences. The intelligences as described by Dr. Kazimierz Dabrowski are emotional intelligence, intellectual, imaginational, psychomotor and sensual.
When we are born we initially relate to our environment through emotion alone. A few months later the ability to think and differentiate begins to develop. As babies, our family also relates to us emotionally. We know when a baby is hungry and wet through hearing its cries and we gratify our child by meeting their needs. It's a delightful experience to kiss a baby and hear it coo when they're happy and content. We marvel at the beauty, purity and innocence of the child.
Many Spiritualists believe that we choose the family that we are born into
in order to learn the lessons needed to develop individually and collectively
while we are on the earth plane. We are thrown into a familial repetition and
our lives are irrevocably effected by the culture of our birth. Often, the
families in which we are born have shut down emotionally and as children become
adults they often become emotionally closed so as to be accepted and approved
of by their family. Spiritualists know that individuals choose to heal or
remain stuck in a state of hopelessness. The journey from fear to creativity
begins with the will to consciously reopen ourselves emotionally. As we begin
to open emotionally, we see that it has a ripple effect that is linked to our
developmental potential and opens the channel to our intellectual,
imaginational, psychomotor and sensual intelligences.
A very intelligent woman came to my office about five years ago. When I asked her how I could help her, she answered that she had heard of my work in guiding people as they developed their creativity and since she supervised a large staff she wanted to learn specific techniques for this purpose. I explained to her that this was a process that involved individual personality development and that in order to learn about creativity, it would be necessary for her to learn where were the fears that blocked her own creativity. She seemed momentarily at a loss for words and then said, "That's not what I expected to hear, however, let's do it." I began to work with her twice a week and she learned that she was emotionally closed down as most of the answers she gave me initially involved an intellectual rationalization of why things were a particular way and events occurred as they did. For every intellectual response she gave me, I said, "now tell me how you feel, instead of how you think." She had developed an intellectual defense. Consequently, her creativity was limited to what she could think about, not feel or take action on for fear of, "not appearing seemly."
I gave her homework. It was to keep a daily journal entitled, Infinite Possibilities. In order for her to develop her creativity it was necessary to help her learn and integrate the language of emotional communication. I instructed her to begin looking in people's eyes, not just at them, as there she would see the reflection of her own soul. When she asked me why I told her to do that, I responded by asking her, "Do your eyes see all that is there?"
One day, she told me that when she looked into the eyes of a man whom she had just met, she felt that she saw her mother speaking to her. Her mother said that she was there to support her, in a way that was not possible when she was on the earth plane. The man into whose eyes she looked represented the vision of that person she had searched for, for many years. This man had the same first name as her mother. Finally, she knew that she had experienced the meaning of emotional communication, the place where creativity dwells, where everything is possible. Spiritualists understand emotional communication as expressed in the Law of Evolution that deals with the effect of each state of consciousness upon each individualized being. These two people looked into one another's eyes and recognized Infinite Possibility. We do not know what the future will bring them. However, we do know that at this time they no longer feel alone and that together they continue to move from Fear to Creativity in the new century.
E-mail ELEANOR FISHER: Eleanor@jacemngt.demon.co.uk